I've purchased a SoloPro 270 with some accessories. All in all, $100 including shipment. The heli came in with a broken canopy and a stuck servo. I asked a replacement. They asked for an image. Then they asked for a video. Then they asked me to send back the heli only, on my account. Then they said I should send the rest of the part. Each communication with them is between 1-2 days, with stupid answers and no phone communication. They made sure that 45 days will go by, and then they stop answering. And then it is too late to report to PayPal, who seem the only entity which can put some pressure on them, as they depend on it.
I RECOMMEND YOU ALL - USE PAYPAL WITH HOBBYKING, AND OPEN A DISPUTE EARLY IN THE CS PROCESS.

I can sort of see why you might be a bit upset with a heli that had a broken canopy and a stuck servo but come on is it really the end of the world,are we not modelers? so shouldn't most of us be able to sort these little issues out our selves? i guess if your new to the hobby it might be hard to work out how to fix or swap out a servo and replace a canopy.

A Solo Pro is only about 50/60 dollars so that makes your shipping around 50/40 dollars?

At the end of the day would it really be worth your while to send it back? no doubt HK wanted a picture,video and then the whole heli back to make sure the stuck servo and broken canopy didn't happen in a crash,as they are the parts that normally go in a crash (i'm not saying you crashed it) and you can't blame them for wanting to check,i bet a good few people new to the hobby trying it on,they go out and buy a new heli which they think looks easy to fly as they have seen a youtube video of one flying,they try it and break it so they then want to send it back and expect HK to pay for the crash lol.

At the end of the day they have to make sure you got it the way you say you did,if not HK would soon be out of business with every Tom Dick and Harry sending stuff back that they broke in the first place,again i'm not saying you broke yours but only trying to let you understand why HK might need photos and a video.

i've purchased a solopro 270 with some accessories. All in all, $100 including shipment. The heli came in with a broken canopy and a stuck servo. I asked a replacement. They asked for an image. Then they asked for a video. Then they asked me to send back the heli only, on my account. Then they said i should send the rest of the part. Each communication with them is between 1-2 days, with stupid answers and no phone communication. They made sure that 45 days will go by, and then they stop answering. And then it is too late to report to paypal, who seem the only entity which can put some pressure on them, as they depend on it.
I recommend you all - use paypal with hobbyking, and open a dispute early in the cs process.

that is what exactly I did. Its my mistake as I never order things from China as most companies there lack support and at that time I couldnt find the fatshark`s in europe. I have opened a dispute and still no reply from HK neither to Paypal.

Ordered a plane from HK. Got it in record time. It is missing two very tiny parts--two control horns and the connectors for them. Small things I know, but I want them. Sent a note off to HK asking for the missing parts. Got the stock answer. They want pictures, copies, etc, etc. Went round and round with them, and filed with Pay Pal for help. HK removed the item from the list of orders on my account with them, and when I asked why, they said they do this automatically when a dispute is filed. They said if I dropped my dispute they would put the record of order back on my account page. And then what? I just don't trust them to send me the parts if I drop my dispute. All this over 10 cents worth of parts. I went ahead and built the plane using my own parts, but it's just the principle of the thing. I'd like to hear whether anyone has actually gotten HK to send them missing parts, or replaced a defective product. I don't ever remember seeing a resolved dispute.

Ordered a plane from HK. Got it in record time. It is missing two very tiny parts--two control horns and the connectors for them. Small things I know, but I want them. Sent a note off to HK asking for the missing parts. Got the stock answer. They want pictures, copies, etc, etc. Went round and round with them, and filed with Pay Pal for help. HK removed the item from the list of orders on my account with them, and when I asked why, they said they do this automatically when a dispute is filed. They said if I dropped my dispute they would put the record of order back on my account page. And then what? I just don't trust them to send me the parts if I drop my dispute. All this over 10 cents worth of parts. I went ahead and built the plane using my own parts, but it's just the principle of the thing. I'd like to hear whether anyone has actually gotten HK to send them missing parts, or replaced a defective product. I don't ever remember seeing a resolved dispute.

I think some people get their missing parts but it usually takes several months.
Don't close your Paypal dispute.

Can you show the cases where it took several months for people to get their missing parts?

FYI at some point a dispute will be closed, it can't stay open forever.

Just check out the HK reviews and discussions. I'm sure there are still some comments there that they haven't deleted (censored) or check out the complaints department on the hk forum. I'm sure you'll find plenty there. It's very common for customers to wait months for hk to replace missing and defective parts. The real question is how many customers get tired of having to constantly contact hk to re-open their claim or how many customers just give up after a few months and write it off as a total loss.
Paypal dispute. The customer opens a dispute with Paypal. If it is ignored or if you can't get a fair resolution you can escalate it to a claim. Then Paypal will decide the outcome. If both parties ignore the dispute it will expire unresolved.

Just check out the HK reviews and discussions. I'm sure there are still some comments there that they haven't deleted (censored) or check out the complaints department on the hk forum. I'm sure you'll find plenty there. It's very common for customers to wait months for hk to replace missing and defective parts. The real question is how many customers get tired of having to constantly contact hk to re-open their claim or how many customers just give up after a few months and write it off as a total loss.
Paypal dispute. The customer opens a dispute with Paypal. If it is ignored or if you can't get a fair resolution you can escalate it to a claim. Then Paypal will decide the outcome. If both parties ignore the dispute it will expire unresolved.

so I guess you're saying this never actually happened to you, you're just repeating what someone else told you or you read? That's fine of course, just wanted to confirm.

Also, in many of your rants you indicate that phony reviews are posted for shilling purposes. Yes yes, everyone knows HK was looking for people to talk up their items, but can you point to any one persons comments about HK and conclusively show that they are shilling for HK. Just one? And please make sure to show your "proof".

When you make broad allegations it denigrates those people who are just here to talk about a plane they got, or a motor they are using. It's difficult to understand how someone can appoint themselves judge and jury and call someone a shill when they have absolutely no proof.

Can you show the cases where it took several months for people to get their missing parts?

I decided to do a little search by searching the term "missing" in this vender's section. I was admittedly shocked at the result, finding people that took months to get resolution was actually pretty hard. Most of the people with missing items NEVER got resolution though HK. Most times it took a paypal intervention and claim, while countless others eventually gave up due to the stonewalling. I did find a couple examples per your request.

Any idea what the shocking results were as compared to the total number of sales they have in a give day, week, month, year? What would be your best guess as to the percentage of complaints versus sales?

Hobbypartz, Banana, Grayson, Tower, Horizon etc, or is it just easier to get on the bandwagon against HK.

You get whatcha pay for, both in terms of quality AND service when dealing with most below rate online providers.

Could care less about how many sales they make, that point is moot. What would make more sense is to see how many complaints get resolved rather than to see how many go unresolved with ticked off consumers. If all these negative postings resulted in HK making the customer happy, there wouldn't be so much HK bashing. All people expect is to get what they pay for, no more and no less. What ticks them off more than anything appears to be getting the brush off when HK sends defective merchandise and won't make good or doesn't send items paid for and stonewalls them until the consumer gives up. That last one is effectively stealing from the consumer.

Personally speaking, I've had 100% perfect satisfaction with problems came up with Horizon Hobby and Tower Hobbies. Those issues ( and there have been a few) were handled with professional and speedy response. I did get crappy service with Banana Hobby. I haven't had to deal with Hobbypartz CS and I've never ordered from Grayson so I cannot comment on them.

Instead of claiming people are "jumping on the bandwagon", did you ever stop to think that people may actually have an legitimate issue with HK? Evidently not. I agree that it's difficult to understand how someone can appoint themselves judge and jury. That point is just as valid when a negative experience is posted about HK. Those that post negative experiences often feel denigrated due to the response of those who don't wish to acknowledge the idea that there could be a legitimate gripe with HK's customer service. In the end, the consumer could care less about HK's volume of sales. All they care about is getting what they paid for.

Here in New Zealand we get our goods delivered directly ex Hong Kong,and are so far delivered very quickly.I have not tried to resolve issues (all very minor) due entirely to the cost of returns etc,but I have had far worse service from one of our local hobby stores.
I recommend that you limit what you buy to small ticket items-anything else buy from someone where you can go and "knock on their door" if dissastisfied...

Instead of claiming people are "jumping on the bandwagon", did you ever stop to think that people may actually have an legitimate issue with HK? Evidently not. I agree that it's difficult to understand how someone can appoint themselves judge and jury. That point is just as valid when a negative experience is posted about HK. Those that post negative experiences often feel denigrated due to the response of those who don't wish to acknowledge the idea that there could be a legitimate gripe with HK's customer service. In the end, the consumer could care less about HK's volume of sales. All they care about is getting what they paid for.

if you haven't seen a bandwagon being jumped on when it comes to HK you can't be looking hard. Happens in every HK thread. And in some instances it happens when someone posts a good experience with that vendor as well. I think the amount of sales is certainly relevant as it goes to size/scale of the issue, and gives context. I don't dispute for a second that people haven't had issues with HK, or that their individual experiences weren't all that they wanted them to be. I've had about 10 transactions with them, only one went bad, and was eventually resolved by the credit card company.

In some of these cases when you get the heart of the issue it's merely a complaint on the quality of the product they got, and that's when it gets tricky. Expectations are set based on a review or a video and then when the items comes the person is unhappy with the item, but got exactly what they paid for.

Love dealing with Horizon and Tower, never had a problem that couldn't be solved. But then again, you pay for that one way or another.

if you haven't seen a bandwagon being jumped on when it comes to HK you can't be looking hard.

You said that, I didn't.

Quote:

Originally Posted by porcia83

I think the amount of sales is certainly relevant as it goes to size/scale of the issue, and gives context.

The issue is not how much they sell, the issue is that after the sale if something goes wrong, the consumer gets treated poorly. How does how much they sell have any bearing on customer service after the sale?

Quote:

Originally Posted by porcia83

I've had about 10 transactions with them, only one went bad, and was eventually resolved by the credit card company.

So you had to get your credit card involved with a dispute as well.

Quote:

Originally Posted by porcia83

In some of these cases when you get the heart of the issue it's merely a complaint on the quality of the product they got, and that's when it gets tricky. Expectations are set based on a review or a video and then when the items comes the person is unhappy with the item, but got exactly what they paid for.

Perhaps. In the search that I used, people were complaining of missing items as well as broken / defective and the runaround they got when dealing with CS. I couldn't even guess how many complained due to the gray area of the product not living up to the review or the advertisement.

Quote:

Originally Posted by porcia83

Love dealing with Horizon and Tower, never had a problem that couldn't be solved. But then again, you pay for that one way or another.

I agree with that. Horizon and Tower seem to deliver good CS.

We all are supposed to get what we pay for, that's the way the laws work. It's not always about how much you pay, it's the fact that you pay and are supposed to receive..... not get shorted and then blown off.

Now on the subject of 'the bandwagon", it is an interesting situation. Almost every thread in the HK forum gets answered by around a half dozen users who question all the points, so evidently there are two sides to the wagon and most times they are both running on flat tires.